The Civico Museo di Storia Naturale, also known in English as the Natural History Museum, is a municipal museum in Trieste, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy. It stands at Via dei Tominz 4, in the city, and makes a relaxed stop for visitors who want to see the natural world from a local angle.
What you will find
The museum brings together four areas of study:
- Mineralogy, with rocks and minerals
- Paleontology, the record of life from earlier periods
- Zoology, the animal collections
- Botany, the plant collections
Its displays include important specimens from the Karst region, the limestone landscape that runs behind Trieste, and from the Adriatic Sea, which meets the city's shore. For many visitors, this local focus is what makes the collections worth a visit: you can see in the cases the kinds of landscape and marine life that surround the city itself.
Planning your visit
The museum is a good fit for a rainy afternoon, for families with children, or for anyone with an interest in geology, fossils or regional wildlife. Because it is one of several cultural institutions in the city, it pairs well with a walk through Trieste's historic centre and its waterfront. To check opening times, admission details or whether particular displays are on show, you can call the museum on +39 040 675 4603 before you go.
